Best Amount of Patience

Concordia law students finally get accreditation and take the bar.

Staff Pick

George Prentice

In August 2014, Concordia University School of Law students were in a bind. They had completed most of their coursework, and some were as close as a semester away from graduating. The university was still waiting on the American Bar Association to provisionally accredit it. Without accreditation, students wouldn't be eligible to sit for the bar exam, which was the same as saying they couldn't become lawyers. Half of the school's third-year law students opted to delay graduating rather than complete their degrees at an unaccredited school. In June, Concordia students received good news: The ABA provisionally accredited the school, and in July, eight years after Concordia announced it would open a law school in Boise, nine Concordia Law students sat for the bar exam—and probably hit the bar immediately afterward.